Adria Takala: Intergalactic Space Orphan
by CandorTaylor
Summary: Teenager Adria Takala lives off the streets, stealing food and hustling money to survive. After a close encounter with a bounty hunter, she's saved by a ragtag group who calls themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.
1. The Bounty

**Hi y'all! Tay here! Came up with a head cannon and decided to write it up. I'm only familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe so if there's something I'm doing wrong or not like the comics please let me know so I can fix it!**

**Also I'm super busy with classes so I won't update too frequently so please don't yell at me! Just a girl trying her best**

**Other than that, take a seat, grab a cookie, and enjoy :)**

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><p>Shit.<p>

They were following her again.

Vigilante life, everyone always trying to catch your ass and throw you into prison. She didn't think it was fair to try to arrest someone for a dine and ditch but to be fair it's not like she had the best track record either...

But this time that's all its for. Cause all she needed was some godforsaken place to eat or else she'd starve to death. And that wasn't the very glamorous, worthy, heroic death she had wanted for when the day came.

Running. Running and running away as the bounty hunter chased her. She had a head start, at least, for once. She was never a step ahead of anything. She, of anyone, would know- a girl who spent most of her life on the run.

Heart pumping, beating in her chest like a thousand tiny thunder storms, heavy breathing and her mouth dried from sucking air in and out. She hated physical activity, seeing that she was a spazz of sorts. Not the typical street dweller. People who got their dinner from robbing the joint weren't usually double left footed but her? Completely clumsy.

Adria Takala, intergalactic space orphan. That's who she was. Most commonly known as 'bitch', 'dammed girl who stole- insert newest accusation here'. She slipped between two buildings, hiding herself in the shadows, attempting to slow the breath that would surely give her away.

Her dark brown hair stuck to her sweaty forehead in thin strips. She bit her lip as she heard the footsteps, verifying the fact that her pursuer was on her heels.

She waited for the "Gotcha!". For the confirmation that she'd been caught. But it didn't come. It had to come. It always did. No one left a bandit on the loose, especially one so easy to catch. Prehaps he hadn't caught up?

She began counting to down from ten to calm herself. Ten. Nine. Eight. Nothing.

Then a crash. She rolled her eyes. 'Here it comes' she thought. Time to reap the consequences of her actions. Most likely another slap of the wrists, naughty naughty child doing mildly illegal things. Except no one came. A blast erupted from outside her little ally. What the hell was going on? Whatever it was she was sure it didn't just have to do with her law breaking. A maniacal laugh rung out. Wonderful, some psychopath just killed her captor and she was surely the next target.

She pressed herself closer to the wall, the rough brick scratching her as she scooted further into the crack. Today was so not her day.

"That's right, asshat!" The maniac screeched. "Serves ya right, chasing that little girl like that." Followed by the sound of spit hitting the floor. Lovely.

Adria stood silently, wondering who her savior/axe murderer could possibly be. Her breathing was finally dropping down to a normal rate and her heartbeat had returned to its proper rhythm. She tried to listen carefully as she heard an exchange of words, quieter then the yells she'd heard before but not completely hidden in the murky night. She couldn't quite make out the words they were speaking, but she now knew there was more than one being. And she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that tidbit of information.

"Lower...weapon."

"Shut up, Quill...dumbass."

"Who...either way...help her."

"What do I look like?"

"A talking racoon."

She couldn't hear everything they were saying but she heard enough. Weapons. Forest creatures with working vocal chords. This was some serious drug rage shit. She needed to find an escape- and find it quickly. Whoever was standing in that street was absolutely insane. She couldn't walk out, they'd obviously see her. She couldn't fly out. She couldn't dig a hole through the floor. Waiting it out seemed to be the only viable option at this point, which could take ages with these wackos.

"Hey, whoever you are, you can come out now," a man's voice most likely aimed at her shouted. "My buddy has that jackass taken care of."

That's not shady at all, sure. Some guy asking her to reveal her hiding spot, so he could, what, take advantage of her? No freaking thanks. She'd rather rot in this crevice between two old decrepit buildings. It took everything in her to remain perfectly still, yet somehow she managed.

"I know you're freaking out, but there's nothing to be freaking out about. We're the guardians of the galaxy for crying out loud, we're not gonna hurt you. It'd look bad on our track record."

"Way to blow our cover, Quill." The second muttered.

"She's gotta be able to trust us, Rocket." The man replied to the other before calling back to Adira. He had a friendly voice, one that she wanted to trust but wasn't quite sure if she could. "I'm Star Lord, famous protector of this glorious galaxy." Wow, someone's an arrogant prick. "And I'm here to help."

With that, something surprising broke the silence. A rhythmic, flurry of patterns that fluttered towards her ears. Music, she knew it to be called. Something she had heard of by word of mouth and assumed it to be this. It filled her with warmth, a feeling she hadn't experienced in a while. Her entire body was swept with the emotion- a pure happiness that radiated from deep inside. True happiness, not the fake stuff that lasted a few minutes. The stuff she usually felt. This was different. This _moved _her.

"So what do you think?" The man asked, interrupting her from the feeling. She was almost mad at him for removing her from the moment until she once again found the song in the darkness. It felt as if she could grasp it between her fingers and hold it there forever. One last time his voice dragged her back into reality. This time, he sounded almost excited. "You coming or what?"


	2. The Beginning

**Nothing really to say. I suppose I should put in the obvious disclaimer that I don't own Guardians of the Galaxy or Marvel. Sadly.**

**Here's just a short little chapter, hope y'all enjoy :)**

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><p>Prison scared Adria. Dying an unworthy death scared Adria. Leaving her drink unattended as she left for a bathroom break at a bar scared her. And this? This certainly scared her. Because never in her entire life of seeing strange things would she imagine being face to face with the strangest thing in the entire universe. That was how she would describe this pair of clowns. A man, probably in his thirties, holding some machine that made the music play, accompanied by a raccoon with a bazooka slung over his freaking shoulder. That's it. She had officially seen it all.<p>

"What the hell is going on?" She asked with a shaky voice. She didn't want it to be shaky but that's not something one can control when they're scared to the bone and they're seeing the very things she was at the moment.

"Why don't you ask yourself that question, Princess?" The raccoon- yes, the freaking raccoon- answered, in a rather short tone. "Now c'mon, we ain't got all day here for the meet and greet."

She stood dumbfounded, jaw slack, hands hanging at her side. Her mind searched for the missing puzzle piece that she simply couldn't find. The nighttime sky was full of beautiful, sweeping collections of stars, bright enough a dim light in the darkness. "You can talk." She sputtered, although frankly she had already known this. "Holy shit you can talk."

He waved a furry little hand to dismiss her statement. "Yeah yeah, save it for the thank you card."

She suddenly focused her attention to the man.

He had skin almost of her color, not quite as dark as hers, and unlike Adria's it wasn't brandished with thin purple swirls that wrapped around her body like vines. On her arms, her belly, her face. He didn't have these. And he just stood there like some dork, half smiling and holding the musical contraption she hoped would never end.

"And you-"

"Star Lord," Apparently-Star-Lord interjected.

"Sure," she affirmed. "Who the hell are you?"

An expression of faux offense washed over her face.

"Oh stow the feelings, Quill," the raccoon snapped at him, swinging the bazooka down and gradually walking away from the ally. "We can't leave everyone waiting."

"So you guys, the guardians of the galaxy or whatever you called yourself, you're like a big deal?"

The man called Quill or Star Lord or whatever looked appalled, although he still looked like he was not one hundred percent serous. Adria simply stood there awaiting an answer. "Big deal? We're a major big deal!" He turned to his racoon buddy for confirmation, who just groaned and rolled his eyes. "We saved the entire galaxy, even you're ungrateful self, from total destruction."

Adria shrugged, not having time for this. "Never heard of you."

"What? How?"

"I don't pay attention to things other then how I'm gonna get my next meal on the table so..."

The raccoon started walking back the way he came from. "Fascinating. Now enough of the sob story. Let's get a move on, or else they're gonna think you screwed something up."

Quill/Star Lord crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "And why is it me having to screw everything up?" By now the music had stopped, and that made Adria sad. She felt so empty again without the beautiful sound in her ears.

"Isn't it always?"

"Oh shut up, Rocky." He turned to face the girl once again. "I don't think I heard you before- you coming with us or not?"

Yes they were strangers, but they had saved her ass. And to be honest, where else did she have to go? Another abandoned alleyway? Is that really safer then trusting this...whatever you'd call this pair?

In theory, it wasn't a hard decision. That's probably why it felt so right to nod her head, confirming the addition of one to the crew.

It was the first night in a long time that she felt as though she was going home.

"Just one question," she said, smirking and pointing to the man. "Does he always have this big of an ego?"

The raccoon- Rocky, apparently- snickered as Quill shot him a glance. But Rocky didn't care, and his laughter made Adria crack a smile too.

"Welcome to the club, kid," he chuckled, the bazooka still swinging as he walked. "You'll fit right in."


End file.
